Each edition grades its towns against each other only.
Most of Cottonwood was built recently: 8% of its homes predate 1940 and the median home dates from 1976. Below: maps from 1896 on.
The Cottonwood post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name.
Read from the archive, the National Register and the record. The page puts what stands out first.
The first neighbors to add old photos shape how Cottonwood’s history is told.
Every edition of the U.S. Geological Survey’s map of Cottonwood. Tap a year, or press play to watch the town change.
U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (public domain), via Esri’s collection of the scans. The red ring marks the center of Cottonwood.
Wikipedia doesn’t have a history of Cottonwood yet. The photos, dates and memories neighbors add here are how it gets written.
Cottonwood is an unincorporated community in Coal County, Oklahoma, United States. It is located two miles northeast of Coalgate. A post office operated in Cottonwood from April 1, 1914 to December 31, 1914.
Its first post office opened in 1914.
Intro from Wikipedia. Population: U.S. Census Bureau.
Woven from the archive, old maps, post office records, the National Register and the people born here.
On the mapFirst mapped by the U.S. Geological SurveyWeddings on Main Street, storms, parades, school pictures, the old store. If it’s in your family album, it belongs here.
Nobody well known was born in Cottonwood itself, so here are the best known from just nearby.
Cottonwood had its own post office from 1914 to 1914.
US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock, CC0). Places and cemeteries from the USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021).
The Cottonwood post office opened in 1914, the earliest record of the town by name (U.S. post office records).
What the archives can’t tell you, neighbors can.
Founding dates: Wikidata, Wikipedia, the U.S. post office records of Blevins & Helbock (CC0) and the Census. Homes by year built: Census ACS 2020–24. National Register of Historic Places: National Park Service (list of May 22, 2026). Old photos, postcards and papers: Wikimedia Commons, the Library of Congress and other public archives, credited on each item’s page. Maps: U.S. Geological Survey historical topographic maps (via Esri) and Sanborn fire-insurance maps (Library of Congress). History text and census tables: Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0). Places that used to be: USGS Geographic Names Information System (2021). How TownRatings grades history →
From U.S. Geological Survey historical maps, the US Post Offices dataset (Blevins & Helbock) and the USGS Geographic Names Information System. Archive images are copied here with their credits and licenses, shown on each photo’s page. Refreshed monthly.
